Mi ARENA CHEX.

A chess variant game designed by
Brent Thomas.

Straight rows of cells.

[1] File. There are ten,
West to East, with any two cells connected by a shared side.

The North and South files are
called the forest files. These have seven cells.

Adjacent to a forest file there
is an Archers file with eight cells. Adjacent to an Archers file there is a
Slingers file with nine cells. Adjacent to a Slinger's file there is a
Lancer's file with ten cells. Between the Lancers files are the central
Emperors and the Princes files. These have eleven cells.

[2] Alley. Two, three, four,
five or six unconnected cells at an angle to any file.

[4] Rank. Two, three, four
or five, North to South, unconnected cells.

Objective of the game.

The two players have the objective of creating a situation
that is known as "Chex".

This is the eminent capture of the
most important piece, the Emperor. The player with the threatened Emperor must
immediately remove the threat of "Chex" by:

Moving the Emperor to a safe
position.

Moving another piece to a position
where he blocks the threat.

Capturing the piece that is making
the threat.

A player wins the game when his
opponent cannot, or will not, remove the eminent capture of his Emperor.

This situation is known as
"Chexmate".

Drawn games.

These occur when;

The situation that is known as a
"stalemate" occurs when, in his turn a player cannot make a legal
move and his Emperor is not in a "Chex" situation.

Both players accept that no
"Chexmate" is possible.

The Pieces.

The Moves.

Emperor. An Emperors usual move is
one unoccupied cell, in any direction on a file, an alley, a diagonal or a
rank.

Traverse. He moves two
unoccupied cells on one of his end diagonals, toward an Archer. Then
that Archer is moved onto the cell that the Emperor moved across.

Please note! A Traverse with
the Princes Archer will transfer this Archer onto the files that the Emperors
Archer plays on.

Rule No. 1. " An Emperor is
not permitted to move onto a cell where he would be captured".

Rule No. 2. " An Emperor is
not permitted to traverse to avoid being captured".

Rule No. 3. " An Emperor is
not permitted to make a traverse when he or the Archer have already
moved".

Rule No. 4. " An Emperor is
not permitted to make a capture by means of a traverse".

Prince. A Prince can move in any
direction, any number of unoccupied cells on a file, an alley, a diagonal or a
rank.

Lancer. A Lancer can move in any
direction, any number of unoccupied cells on a diagonal.

Slinger. A Slinger 'jumps', in any
direction, within a group of six cells that are either two joined files or
diagonals. The jump is to an unoccupied cell at the opposite end of the
adjacent three cell row.

Archer. An Archer can move in any
direction, any number of unoccupied cells on a file or a rank.

Warrior. A Warriors usual move is
one unoccupied cell, on his file, toward the opposite end. His other moves are:
first move can be one or two moves on unoccupied cells on his own file.

Rule No. 5. "When a Warriors
progress is blocked by any other Warrior, he is permitted to move one unoccupied
cell that is diagonally adjacent and forward of him".

Rule No. 6. "A promotion to an
Archer, a Slinger, a Lancer or a Prince can be given to a Warrior who has moved
onto, or makes a capture on, an opposite end cell. A promotion to any piece is
only permitted if that piece has been previously captured and removed from the
game".

Making a capture. Any enemy piece,
except the Emperor, that can be reached, can be captured and removed from the
game. Each piece usually makes a capture the same way as he moves. A Warrior
only makes a capture on a cell that is diagonally adjacent and forward of him.

Notations.

In all commentaries, all
notations must be placed between the cells IDs.

Move notation Symbol. Example. What
it describes.

- 2a - 10a The piece on cell 2a moves
to cell 10a.

x 2a x 10a The piece on cell 2a captures
the piece on cell 10a.

T T - 4a The White Emperor Traverses
to cell 4a.

(-) (x) This move or capture puts
the Emperor in chex.

((-)) ((x)) This move or capture
puts the Emperor in double chex.

:-: :x: This move or capture
creates an uncovered chex.

In some commentaries, the following
notations may be used.

! Good move. !! Very good move. ?
Unclear motive. ?? Blunder.

See Thomas' Word-document for this description
with printable board and score-sheet, which can be downloaded for personal use.